It is often necessary to divert a stream from its natural stream bed during various construction projects, such as, road or bridge construction. The diversion of streams usually requires excavating a temporary stream bed around the construction zone and sufficiently far downstream to avoid interfering with the construction project. At the completion of the construction project, the temporary stream bed must be filled to return the land to its original condition.
Other methods for temporarily diverting a stream require the construction of walls and barriers. The walls can be made of concrete blocks, stone and the like. Although effective in diverting the flow of water, the high construction cost of the temporary walls limits their use.
Another disadvantage of these prior temporary stream diversion systems is that these construction techniques can produce large amounts of silt and mud in the water which can be harmful to fish and plant life downstream of the construction area. Moreover, changing the natural stream bed can affect the migration of marine animals upstream and downstream of the temporary stream bed. For example, the temporary stream bed may avoid a natural barrier, such as rapids or a waterfall which provide natural barriers to certain types of marine animals that are not able to traverse the natural barrier.
Numerous systems have been developed to provide a bypass for fish to swim freely around an obstruction, such as, a dam. Examples of devices around objects such as a dam, while allowing the migration of fish are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,437,431 to Koch, U.S. Pat. No. 3,772,891 to Raistakka and U.S. Pat. No. 4,629,361 to Zimmerman. Examples of fish ladders having a series of steps are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,625,798 to Reed and U.S. Pat. No. 530,655 to Richardson.
Flexible tubes have also been used to convey water from one location to another. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,242,244 to Dockery discloses a sleeve for placing in the flow path of a body of water. The current of moving water is funneled into the sleeve to still or pacify the water surrounding the sleeve. The area of still water around the sleeve is then treated with various chemical agents to treat underwater vegetation without introducing the chemical agents into the water current.
The above-noted systems, although generally effective for their intended purposes, are not entirely satisfactory for temporarily diverting surface water. Accordingly, a continuing need exists in the industry for a portable water conveyance system.